Optimera

Optimera is Norway’s largest building materials retailer. The company offers its customers a comprehensive range of products comprising more than 25,000 items (including paint, interiors, iron goods, and building materials), efficient distribution, and a range of services. Corporate-owned outlets and independent distributors are supplied daily through a nationwide distribution system.  

In Norway, the company has more than 100 sales outlets and more than 2100 employees. In 2005, Optimera chose to invest in vertical storage lifts for its smallest components. These took up a disproportionate amount of space in the otherwise 100% manual warehouse. 

The solution includes six compact vertical storage lifts as well as the LOGIA WMS for managing the machines, including full integration with Optimera’s ERP solution, Lawson M3. The vertical storage lifts are used for approximately 3,500 high-value, low-volume items, or for items in the manual warehouse that are sensitive to dust. The LOGIA WMS controls storage and picking, including storage optimization and storage and picking efficiency. Receipt and shipping are carried out in Lawson M3, from which the LOGIA WMS retrieves data to generate storage and picking orders and returns data after order processing. The LOGIA WMS manages the shelves of the lifts and divides them into several spaces to ensure a high degree of filling within them. At the same time, the LOGIA WMS controls the distribution of items on the six machines. This allows the maximum use of all vertical storage lifts and ensures that all items are available. The storage and picking jobs are distributed evenly across the lifts to keep them all busy. 

Order handling  

Order handling is run according to a batch picker principle, where up to 10 orders are picked in parallel at the same time. Orders are picked in the order determined by the order’s association with the picking route. It is therefore the planned distribution that governs the picking order. When the picking batch is activated, the six vertical storage lifts automatically start to put forward shelves with picks. On the lift’s online screen, the LOGIA WMS shows which items to pick, which quantity to pick, and which space on the submitted shelf the article is placed. When the last order line is picked, the warehouse employee receives a message from the LOGIA WMS, and the order box is closed and provided with a label with information that can be used in connection with any consolidation with picks from other inventory sections. 

Integration til Lawson M3 

When the job is completed, the LOGIA WMS automatically sends data to Lawson M3, where it is possible to keep track of inventory status and job execution throughout the day. During storage, the LOGIA WMS ensures that the vertical storage lift retrieves a location that fits the product, in terms of size and inventory, and considering whether the item should be FIFO-controlled or not. 

Optimera is Norway’s largest building material retailer.

The company offers its customers a comprehensive range of products comprising more than 25,000 items (including paint, interiors, iron goods and building materials), efficient distribution and a range of services. Corporate-owned outlets and independent distributors are supplied daily through a nationwide distribution system. In Norway, the company has more than 100 sales outlets and more than 2100 employees.

Read more about Optimera.